Tuesday, March 1, 2016

It's that moment when you forget the rest, when nothing else seems to matter but a

certain intensity of feeling. You can't count these by dozens in your life but the very strength of the emotion makes these rare experiences memorable. I'm sure what triggers it is very personal and maybe related to a receptive state of mind.

Have you had at least one of these? With nature, art, music?

I remember having it happen as a young girl riding over a bridge at sunset. Unfortunately, that sounds trite and very picture postcard, but I still remember the wonder of the sun's low-slung light glowing on the metal structure and the way our car was becoming part of the blaze.

I didn't say a word, not a whisper,

there in the back seat.

photo: Le style et la matière

It happened again at an exhibit I was enjoying but where I had in no way expected

to stumble on something to make me feel like time stood still.

photo: Le style et la matière

But there it was, ready to spring from a gown I didn't really like -

photo: Le style et la matière

the delicacy of the flowers woven into the glowing orange satin made my heart sing.

This grande dame has appeared in these pages once before, she who inspired Proust for the character of the duchesse de Guermantes in Remembrance of Things Past. Despite the novelist's immortalization, she hadn't been a personality much in view. But these days my post is being clicked on wildly all because of a certain exhibit about her very wonderous wardrobe.

I had written about the Comtesse Greffulhe with for starting point a fait divers concerning

her home. Her monumental apartment as seen during WW II, was a phantom ship during war days. It was so difficult to heat that she had René Prou design a small, utilitarian cabin that was plunked smack dab in the middle of her fine salon with its moldings and towering ceilings

just so she could keep warm.

Élisabeth de Caraman-Chimay 1860-1952

photo Otto Wegener

And here she is,

staring out of a photograph that was unknown to me before from the exhibit poster -bien emmitouflée- all wrapped up in a coquettish way that has the immense charm of the unexpected from a woman of her rank straight out of the Belle Epoque.

Her extensive use of photography can only be compared to that of the Comtesse de Castiglione, that other image-controling comtessse who was her elder by 23 years. If the fascinating comtesse of Castiglione was melodramatic, la Greffulhe played more in the register of subtlety and refinement. And as a reigning queen of the social scene, she staged her performances with a perfectionist's sense of detail in her costumes. She would arrive late, limit the time of her appearances in breath-taking toilettes that were out-of-time and place, then disappear. What is precious is rare! As for the photographs, they were mostly for herself - and posterity. She framed them for her home, but gave away very few.

Her wardrobe was the cornerstone of her persona. All the trips to all the best couture houses of the time were more to assure, she said, of what she would not wear, Worth often worked with her to create the gowns she felt suited her best, and peu importe if no one else was wearing a princess bodice those days. One dress by Worth was cut from a giant-scale Renaissance patterned silk velvet; he also devised a cape with the gift from the Czar Nicolas II of a Bokhara brocade. The Comtesse was eccentric, strange but always distinguished.

The exhibit also demonstrates a certain penchant for Fortuny and Babani.

Robert de Montesquiou byBoldoni source Wikicommons

Robert de Montesquiou, also proustified as Charlus, was a true kindred spirit. This uncle of very nearly her same age, encouraged the young Elisabeth in her obsession with finery and in carving out her own style. As Alexandra Bosc states in the exhibit catalogue, it is probable that, like dandies of the day, Countess Greffulhe attached metaphysical value to the elegance of dress, seeing in this "cult of self" the manifestation of her inner being,

Baudelaire said in Le Peintre et la vie moderne that she had"a burning need to be an original."

The label of his fur-trimmed gown of gold brocade reads Worth, but it was actually designed by the young Paul Poiret when he was employed by that couture house. I recall from reading Poiret's memoirs that he, for one, did not appreciate this client. The Comtesse wore this opulent robe Byzantine to her daughter's wedding at La Madeleine
to which she contrived to arrive early,
that is, before the bride was present.
The papers of the day cooed that it was hard to judge which young lady was to be married and described the gold gown in minute detail hardly mentioning the wedding dress.

It must have been unbearably hot to be the daughter of such an original at times.

Marcel Proust, however, looked on the Comtesse, imperfect and narcissistic in her search for perfection - with awe and tolerance. Had she found a way to deal with the deception that came so quickly after her marriage and her husband's outlandish philandering? To Henry Greffulhe, she was a trophy, but the hunt was what mattered the most. Mr Proust wrote her a letter from which there is just this thought provoking snippet in the exhibit catalogue,

Reports say that the Comtesse stayed supple and svelte through yoga and healthful lifestyle, always seeking to improve herself physically, mentally and spiritually. All this is not to say that Elisabeth Greffulhe thought only of bettering herself. She was utterly devoted to music and was a strong patron of the arts. She supported scientific advancement and charitable causes of her time. She also founded a Spiritualist institute that still active today.

The scenography takes a daring turn and goes so far as to suggest the Comtesse Greffulhe's death. Her earthly body is replaced by a gown laid upon a bier; it is so fresh, so tender - dare I say, young? - she is a dress of chiffon and taffeta decorated with orchids.

... une grâce qui trouble à l’égal d'une émotion artistique. Toutes les choses s'adoucissent autour d'elle en une délicieuse âme qui résume dans les plis de sa robe....a grace no less disturbing than an artistic emotion. Every thing around her sweetens in a delicious spirit that can be summed up in the folds of her dress.Portrait de MadameMarcel ProustLa mode retrouvée: les robes trésors de la comtesse de Greffuhle
The exhibit will travel to New York's FIT museum in September 2016

Ai Weiwei might not always intend this approach and I might not like
some of his his media-grabbing actions -
but this, Child's Play - without a second thought - was a breath of fresh air in a busy day.

Despite the fact that it is recognized as one of the largest and most important textile collections in the world, its budget has been cut in favor of Confluences, thenew museum inaugurated in Lyon last year. Can you imagine the textile collections of the Met, the V & A, or LACMA left to sit inaccessable in some dark storage warehouse ?

And, the textile museum is not alone. It is linked to an impressive decorative arts museum which would equally be shut down.

The current exhibit at the Musée des tissus is called Le Genie de la Fabrique."The exhibition is a tribute to the city of Lyon and its silk working citizens who were able, through their incredible sense of perfection and inventiveness, to elevate weaving fabric not only to the rank of a remarkable craft but to that of a true art."

The exhibit is set to continue into June 2016. but if a solution is not found this Friday, January 22, the museum could close in March 2016.

French textile technology and design is an extremely important part of textile history, but the collection is not only French.It contains world textiles that span 4500 years.

Regula Schorta, director of the Swiss Abegg Foundation confirms, It is one of the rare textile museums covering almost all fields, topics, regions. Its importance is global. I also want to emphasize the very important role of the museum in the field of restoration of antique textiles and training activities also concern international professionals.*

At the Victoria & Albert Museum, Lesley Miller is in complete accord: The Textile Museum is one of the most important collections in the world both in size and quality and for its geographical and chronological scope. It is also unique for its silk collections of the local industry that had - and still has - international importance. It contributes to research worldwide through its reserves, its library, its and its permanent and temporary exhibitions.**quotes translated from an article by Didier Ryker of Le Tribune de l'Art

I don't want to believe the verse from Joni Mitchell will come to pass -Don't it always seem to goThat you don't know what you've got'Til it's gone -A good number of you have already signed the petition started by Daniel Fruman, textile specialist and collector, and I thank you.For those who haven't yet, you can do so by clicking below.Please help keep the Museum open by signing the petition herebefore the last chance meeting of January 22.Thank you!

Objects return our gazes look for look. They seem indifferent to us because we look on them indifferently. But for the eye that sees clearly, everything is a mirror; for a sincere and mindful observer, everything is profound.

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